Minor League Notes: Ex-Royals shortstop joins Grasshoppers

Former Burlington Royals shortstop Alex McClure is playing alongside third baseman Colin Moran of the Greensboro Grasshoppers.

McClure made his debut with the Grasshoppers on Monday after he was traded from the Kansas City organization to the Miami Marlins.

He was acquired in exchange for outfielder Gorkys Hernandez, who has played in the big leagues and was assigned to Kansas City’s top affiliate — Class AAA Omaha.

McClure, who was a 2010 Burlington player, frequently drew praise of Royals officials the past few seasons for his defensive work. He often struggled with the bat, failing to hit better than .217 for a year since his first minor-league season when he debuted with in the Appalachian League.

This year, he batted .213 in 78 games with Class AA Northwest Arkansas of the Texas League before he was sent back to Wilmington, where he spent 2011 and part of 2012 in the Class A Carolina League. He hit .238 in 24 games with the BlueRocks prior to the trade.

â–ª SMILE FOR THE CAMERA: Campbell University had a couple of representatives from its athletics media services staff on hand for WednesdayÂ’s game in Burlington. They were documenting, through video and interviews, the game-day life of Royals reliever Ryan Mattes, whoÂ’s a first-year player from Campbell. That was for a day game.

Then the Campbell crew headed to Danville, Va., for another Appalachian League game that night. Campbell alum Matt Marksberry is a pitcher for the Danville Braves.

The one aspect missing was actual game action. In the case of both Mattes and Marksberry, they pitched the day prior to the visit from the Campbell folks.

â–ª ALL CAUGHT UP: Despite the onslaught of rainouts and postponements across the first month of the season, the Burlington club had made up all its games after FridayÂ’s doubleheader at Danville.

Eight of the team’s games were postponed and another was suspended. Through a series of doubleheader make-ups, all the games had been accounted for as the season just passed the midway mark.

Then came Saturday night’s postponement at Danville.

â–ª CAREFUL WITH YOUR CASTING: The Royals begin a season-long seven-game road trip Monday. This will include a three-game stop later in the week for three games against the Princeton Rays.

Manager Tommy Shields of the Royals is looking forward to some fishing in West Virginia during the Princeton series. He said Princeton manager Danny Sheaffer has a good fishing hole where the two plan to go.

The Royals have won five of six games against Princeton.

“I’ll push him in,” Sheaffer said.

â–ª FLETCHER SMACKS THREE HOMERS: Outfielder Brian Fletcher became the first player with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (who are Kansas CityÂ’s Class AA team in the Texas League) to hit three home runs in a game when he did it against the visiting Arkansas Travelers.

The game began Tuesday night, when Fletcher, a former Burlington Royal, hit two of the homers, then was suspended in the 10th inning by a storm. When it resumed the next day, Fletcher smashed his third homer of the game —a two-run rocket to produce a 10-8 victory in 11 innings. That game the Naturals a team-record seven homers in the game.

â–ª BECKHAM RETURNS AFTER TIME OFF: Durham Bulls shortstop Tim Beckham returned from the temporary inactive list after missing four games for what manager Charlie Montoyo termed Â“personal problems.Â”

Beckham went 2-for-5 on Friday night at Columbus in his first game back, pushing his batting average to .280. He also committed an error in the field.

Beckham, a first-round draft pick (No. 1 overall) of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008, had played in the third-most games (88) on the team this season until he missed time last week. Last year, he served a 50-game suspension handed down for a second violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

â–ª BULLS WELCOME PLAYER ON THE RISE: Outfielder Kevin Kiermaier joined the Bulls during the past week in a promotion from Class AA Montgomery of the Southern League.

Kiermaier, 23, was named the best defensive player in the Tampa Bay system last year. This year, he made it to the Southern League All-Star Game.

“We wanted to give Kiermaier a chance,” Montoyo said.

So Kiermaier, who batted .307 (second-best mark in the Southern League) in 97 games for Montgomery, was called up and 27-year-old Evan Frey was sent to Montgomery. Kiermaier shared the Southern League lead with nine triples when he was promoted.

Frey batted .224 in 19 games for Durham, where he was assigned after he had been released by the Arizona Diamondbacks organization. The Bulls were down to one true outfielder because of injuries and reassignments, so Frey was acquired for what amounted to as an emergency replacement.

Montoyo said Frey, who played 61 games for Reno in the Class AAA Pacific Coast League this year, was aware that he might be assigned to the Class AA club at some point. Montoyo said he was appreciative of what Frey did for the Bulls.

“Frey did his job here,” he said.

â–ª ABOUT TIME: By winning the first two games of a series that ended Saturday night at Winston-SalemÂ’s BB&T Ballpark, the Carolina Mudcats won a series at the stadium for the first time.

It marked the first Carolina League series victory for the Cleveland Indians affiliate, which previously played as the Kinston Indians, in Winston-Salem since 2007. That was a span of 17 series without holding an upperhand.

The Winston-Salem Dash will play host to Wilmington on Thursday through Saturday night.